Canadian Solar has completed and activated what it claims as the largest private solar electric system in Worcester, Massachusetts on the roof of the McDonough Center at the Bancroft School. The 105kW roof-mount was activated before the 2010 school year began and utilizes 462 Canadian Solar CS6P-230P polycrystalline modules. The installation is expected to produce 117,000kWh annually for the McDonough Center.
E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) is no stranger to solar installations. The company expects 50MW of PV farms to be in construction by the middle of 2011, which will add to its 450MW of PV farms in France and Italy. As the installations continue, EC&R, over the next three years, is looking to bring solar power to the same level of success that it feels the wind sector currently holds.
Phoenix Solar is constructing two PV plants in Italy, with a combined capacity of 8.9MWp. Building work on the 6.1MWp Taranto and 2.8MWp Alessandria plants began in October, with a completion date scheduled for the end of December.
EDF Energies Nouvelles has commissioned two solar photovoltaic power plants in Italy with a combined capacity of 26.1MWp. The first plant, located in Loreo, northern Italy will be a 12.6MWp ground-based project. The second, 13.5MWp facility is to be constructed in Priolo, in the south of the country. Both plants will utilize thin-film panels supplied by First Solar.
Benjamin Moore and Constellation Energy are on the verge of completing a new solar power system that is expected to generate 68% of the electricity required to power Benjamin Moore's 80,000 square foot research and development facility in Flanders, New Jersey. The 1.7MW plant, which comprises of 8,600 crystalline PV solar panels and can generate 2,230,000kW hours of electricity per annum, is expected to be operational by the end of the year and will reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 metric tonnes.
Just over a year ago, the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) got approval from the Department of Public Utilities to build 6MW of solar facilities in the New England region over the next two years and the first of its projects has come to a successful completion at the William Stanley Business Park in Pittsfield. The 1.8MW solar installation is the first in the 6MW solar program and is situated on eight acres of land owned by WMECo and the Pittsfield Economic Development using around 6,500 solar panels.
Due to a partnership with Enfinity and rail operator Infrabel, a two mile stretch of the high-speed rail tunnel on the E19 Highway in Belgium will have a rooftop solar power installation. The project will produce energy for the trains and stations on the rail line that serves both conventional and high-speed trains between Amsterdam and Paris via Brussels. The US$20.1 million project will generate 3.3MWh of electricity per year.
SunEdison has signed agreements with Huntington Beach for the installation of over 2MW of solar capacity at three Huntington Beach city properties. Work will begin on the three systems, which will be situated on carport canopies at the Huntington Beach Civic Center, Central Library and City Yard, in 2011. Once completed, the systems are expected to produce more than 63 million kWh of solar energy over 20 years.
The Silver State North Solar Project, the first large-scale solar energy project on U.S. public lands in Nevada, has received Department of the Interior (DOI) approval from Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Joining the project is Ecology and Environment (E & E), which prepared the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the 50MW (AC), 60MW (DC) facility, set for construction in the Ivanpah Valley, just south of Las Vegas.